I love dancing, but I hate gym workouts. Dancing improves my mood1, but gymming frustrates me—I hate going to the gym! Dancing keeps me flexible, but what about strength? So, I thought, is there any way to make me flexible and powerful at the same time without indulging in a gym routine?
And then, I heard about dancing workouts, the ultimate solution I found to my question above. Just like gymming, I first made a proper routine and dance schedule. This time, I decided not to do it like regular dancing to improve my mood but to do the appropriate “dance workouts” to stay fit2 and gain strength simultaneously.
But I had never done dance workouts before, so now the confusion was: How should I start dance workouts? Is it like normal dancing, performing the signature steps of celebs, or are there some specific movements to convert dance into a workout? In the beginning, this was my primary concern before even starting.
But there’s no need to worry! The Internet today has solutions to all our problems. My journey started when I relied on the Internet to find answers to my questions because people I knew suggested that I join gyms instead of doing dance workouts, which I thought was discouraging.
My ultimate savior (the internet) showed me hundreds of YouTube videos of dance workouts to keep myself fit without joining the gym. Then, I went through many dance workout videos until I found an enjoyable and satisfying one from the perspective of actual gymming.
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by from discussion
inxxfitness
Further, I have already found a dancing method for working out,3 so I thought, why not find a warm-up video? I did it. Next, I am a morning person, so I made a proper routine and set up a schedule to work out, starting with waking up early, around 5 AM.
Here, I first do a 15-minute warm-up workout and then start my actual dancing workout sessions. And I realized that dancing workouts are more tiring than the normal dancing that I do every day. Even within 30 minutes of practicing a dance workout, I got so tired that I couldn’t go far. But one thing I can say for sure is that dance workouts are great cardio, which I enjoyed.
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by from discussion
inxxfitness
So, as I already decided to make a routine of dance workouts, when I began to perform them daily, I started to get less tired, and my enjoyment increased day by day. When I got used to it, I began to increase the duration of my dancing workout, which earlier was 30 minutes, and I managed to extend it up to an hour. So, including a 15-minute warm-up session, now I did a complete session of dance workouts for a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes.
And I must say, dancing exercises can give you as astonishing results as gymming, as I felt myself. My calf and thigh muscles became intense, and I felt strength in my biceps and triceps. I can choose any 15-minute dance workout session for each type of strength training and exercise I want.
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byu/neptuneonuranus from discussion
inxxfitness
So, whatever I want, I can find the video for that session and start following that workout for 2-3 months. Then, I switch to new sessions (videos) to avoid getting bored of the same routine. I found the dance fitness routine exciting, exhilarating, and beneficial. Share your story in the comments if you also follow dance workout routines.
- Alpert, Patricia T., et al. “The effect of modified jazz dance on balance, cognition, and mood in older adults.” Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners 21.2 (2009): 108-115. ↩︎
- Aagaard, Marina. Dance Fitness. Lulu. com, 2014. ↩︎
- Ylönen, Maarit E. “Bodily flashes of dancing women: Dance as a method of inquiry.” Qualitative Inquiry 9.4 (2003): 554-568. ↩︎
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